Highly-regarded Blue Jays prospect Aaron Sanchez is proving that his stuff plays at the MLB level, writes Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca. His upper-90s fastball is generating swings and misses along with plenty of groundballs, and he’s also found success with his curve. As Nicholson-Smith notes, Sanchez has shown that the two-pitch combo can make him a force out of the pen, but the next step will be for him to incorporate his change as he looks to establish himself as a big league starter in the future. Sanchez is currently rated the game’s 37th-best overall prospect by MLB.com.
Here’s more from the east:
- The Rays expect their payroll to drop below this season’s franchise record of over $80MM, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports on Twitter. Overall spending is “clearly going to be lower,” said owner Stuart Sternberg. That is hardly surprising, especially given that the team will not be paying David Price a big arbitration raise and has Heath Bell coming off the books. On the other hand, it would seem to indicate that Tampa does not expect to add significant salary via free agency or trade, as the team will be paying raises to players like James Loney and Grant Balfour (whose free agent deals were backloaded) as well as arbitration-eligibles such as Matt Joyce, Jeremy Hellickson, Jake McGee, Desmond Jennings, and the recently-acquired Drew Smyly.
- Since going to the Rays in the Price trade, Smyly has increased his strikeout rate and improved his effectiveness against righties by elevating his fastball, as Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports originally explored and Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs further explains with the aid of many interesting statistics and GIFs. As Sullivan writes — and as Fangraphs has been discussing more generally of late — there is an increasing movement among some teams (including Tampa) and some pitchers to pursue the use of high heat as batters have adjusted to lower pitching.
- Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. says that he expects Cliff Lee to deliver significant on-field value next year, Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Lee is on track in his rehab plan, which currently means continued rest. As Gelb notes, Lee’s situation will likely not begin to clarify until he begins throwing this fall and begins to ramp up for the spring.
- The Mets have issued a statement denying the allegations of former executive Leigh Castergine, as MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reports. “We have received and reviewed the complaint,” the statement reads. “The claims are without merit. Our organization maintains strong policies against any and all forms of discrimination.” In a rather scathing assessment, meanwhile, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports argues that MLB should investigate immediately and act firmly in the wake of Castergine’s troubling allegations. As Passan notes, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon — whose alleged statements and actions form the basis for much of the lawsuit — not only occupies a key position with the team, but also sits on the boards of MLB Enterprises and MLB Network.
Pitching GIFs are some of the best things. They really let you get to check out mechanics and ball movement.
It would be pretty difficult for Cliff Lee to be “off track” on his rehab plan at this stage, seeing as the plan currently consists of “continued rest.” Don’t just do something, Cliff, sit there!
If Wilpon is found guilty of this, shouldn’t he be removed from not only the MLB positions but as a person associated with a major position with the Mets?
If this is true, then I am all for the investigation. Any way to get rid of the Wilpons as owners would be great.
Just want to point out that this is a civil, not a criminal issue. So he isn’t in a position to be found guilty, per se. If he personally and/or the team were to go to trial and lose, they’d be found liable and the most likely legal result would be simply paying her money.
Of course, you may have meant guilty in the sense of being shown to have violated team/league policies in the eyes of the team/league/public. That would be an entirely separate matter, at least in theory, and would be up to the team/league to pursue with whatever consequences it might deem appropriate/permissible.
We already have seen, and will continue to see, lots of commentary on what those consequences might be, but I would expect that — if these allegations are shown to have merit — there will be calls for significant and meaningful action.
If he loses, it’s no big deal. The Wilpons will simply appeal to their fans to increase attendance, and after the suit is settled, THEN they will start to spend on the team. Same logic as they now use to attempt to increase attendance. “If more fans come to the games, we can invest more in the team.”
Well, I do agree with Passan: MLB should run its own investigation. It won’t be hard; Castergine’s allegations are pretty much all are things he said in front of other people, so simply asking those other people will get the bulk of the work out of the way.
If they’re true, he should be removed from baseball. Not only are they misogynistic on their face but they are overtly discriminatory; telling her she would make more money and get larger bonus if she was married implies that she is having money and bonuses withheld for being single — which is clearly illegal in addition to being morally apprehensible.
I’m not a Mets fan. I don’t have an interest in who their owner or leadership is. But if these allegations are true, I have an interest as a human being in it not being this guy.
Amaro is lacking the baseball intelligence and savvy to be a GM in this league. he says Lee has ‘on field value’ basically he’s saying he can’t sell him for a bag of balls at this point. He’s like those guys on Pawn Stars that despite an ‘expert’ saying their item is worth far far less they come off their number 1% and expect to have a deal. Amaro ‘So i’ll take your top 3 prospects, deal?’ Any GM ‘You mean the guy owed almost 30 MM and injured? I’ll give you a PTBNL that we might release anyway’ Amaro ‘Okay so your top 2 prospects and 2 good ones, deal?’